UK troops pulling out of Basra base

British armoured vehicles patrol a road near the scene of an attack on a fuel truck in Basra May 21, 2007. British troops are pulling out of a base at a palace in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Sunday, a Ministry of Defence source said.
REUTERS/Atef Hassan

LONDON British troops are pulling out of a base at a palace in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Sunday, a Ministry of Defence source said.

The withdrawal is a step towards handing over Basra province to Iraqi control and paving the way for an eventual withdrawal of British forces from Iraq.

"The troops are coming out," the source said.

Some 500 of Britain's 5,500 soldiers in Iraq are stationed at Basra Palace, an old palace built for Saddam Hussein in the centre of Iraq's second city.

They are expected to pull back to the vast British airbase on the outskirts of the city.

It has long been expected that the British would withdraw its small, vulnerable garrison from the city and consolidate at the airport.

The withdrawal means the end of a British presence in the volatile city for the first time since the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.

The Sunday Times reported on Sunday that Britain was preparing to hand over control of Basra province to the Iraqi army as early as next month, enabling most of the 5,500 British soldiers to leave Iraq.

Next In UK

LONDON Britons expect a sharp rise in inflation over the coming year following the plummet in the value of sterling after Britain's vote to leave the European Union, and more now believe a hike in interest rates is on the way, a Bank of England survey showed.

LONDON British Prime Minister Theresa May's ruling Conservative Party retained a parliamentary seat in a strongly pro-Brexit area on Friday, heading off a challenge from the anti-EU UK Independence Party.

Trending Stories

Sponsored Topics

Reuters is the news and media division of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Learn more about Thomson Reuters products: